Kiss me under the mistletoe
by welcometonerdworld
Summary: Jily featuring Blackinnon: During the Christmas holidays, Lily and James find themselves in the common room together. Marlene and Sirius play a little prank to help them get together. Cover art by anxiouspineapples.


Written for the marauders gift exchange over on tumblr.

* * *

Lily lay on her four poster bed up in Gryffindor tower. She rolled over onto her side, lifting a photograph – a still, Muggle one – of her family. Then, she sighed and placed it back on her nightstand, facing the ceiling.

Not for the first time that holiday, Lily wondered vaguely why she'd wanted to stay at school over Christmas in the first place. Was it the fact that she couldn't stand to see her sister's sneering face, or that she no longer had Severus to spend her time with?

No. Lily knew what it really was, the reason that she didn't want to leave Hogwarts. It was that one tiny little intrusive detail that she was blatantly ignoring: James Potter.

Lily knew that after rejecting him in her fifth year, it was unfair to expect him to still like her. After all, she didn't even know if he'd ever really fancied her in the first place. What if him asking her out in fifth year was a joke, a childish little prank like he'd always played?

But James had changed since fifth year. He'd come back to school for their sixth year a different person in some ways. Sure, he still pranked and was raucous and obnoxiously loud but all the same, there was a sense of gravity, responsibility and confidence, not conceit, about his person that made Lily think that something had changed James Potter – he wasn't an arrogant bullying toerag anymore.

Throughout sixth year, he was kind, even polite. He worked harder at school, admittedly not very hard, but he showed more respect to the people around him. Lily recalled how surprised she had been to find him tutoring some first years in Transfiguration. He had grown up.

Come seventh year, James was given the badge and it was to no one's complete surprise. Sirius teased him endlessly for it, but Lily knew that even he expected it.

James was a symbol of authority and hope in these dark times.

Now though, Lily was slowly beginning to realise that she was falling for him. It wasn't as if he was extremely attractive – he left that to Sirius – but James had filled out, grown taller and broader and Lily was just starting to see what some other girls had seen a long time ago. It was his personality more than anything, the casual intelligence and genuine wit that had Lily imagining all sorts of situations: a kiss, a date, a snog under some mistletoe...

But what was the point in fantasising? He was clearly over her, and Lily was determined not to let her affections show.

Deciding that she had no chance of sleeping now, Lily rolled out of her bed and traipsed down the stairs, grumbling as she went about that silly James Potter and that stupidly attractive smirk of his.

* * *

When Lily arrived in the Gryffindor common room, it was to the ridiculously adorable sight of a sleeping James Potter, snoring quietly as he lay, sprawled out on a sofa.

Lily softly padded over to where he slept, raised his head slightly and sat down, sinking into the sofa as his head rested on her lap. She stared into the burning embers in the fireplace and absentmindedly curled her fingers through his thick crop of black hair, swirling them slightly as she watched the fire, mesmerised.

Every once in a while, Lily would glance down at James' face and smile slightly. He looked a lot more peaceful when he was asleep, without the pressures of responsibility and expectation resting upon his shoulders. Then she'd wrench her gaze away, back into the flames.

Time seemed to slow down for Lily as sleep pulled at her. She didn't know how much time was passing, but she was falling asleep, breathing deeper, and her eyelids felt heavy as her head tilted to the side...

"You know, Lily, if you wanted to feel my hair that much, you could've just asked." A slightly sleepy but amused voice rang out, and Lily's head snapped down, now wide awake, to see a – was that pleased? – smirk on James' face.

"Erm, well, I was just..." Lily's face burned crimson, and it wasn't to do with the still blazing fire in the room.

"Chillax, Evans. I'm only joking." He cricked his neck from side to side, yawned a bit and slowly raised his upper body, the warmth from his head leaving Lily's lap.

He stretched his arms luxuriously in the air and his t-shirt raised up the slightest bit so that Lily's eyes were drawn to the lightly tanned part of his stomach that was visible. All too soon, his arms were back down and one of them wrapped around Lily's shoulder.

She turned her head to look at him, and laughed softly at the sight of his hair, even messier than usual because of his nap and her mussing. He smiled in return, and she rested her head bravely on his shoulder.

No words were said, but that didn't matter: the unsaid ones were the most important; the ones passed between their small touches, little sparks that were sent to each other through the bare skin of his arm on her neck.

They fell asleep like that, curled up together on the sofa whilst the fire kept on glowing.

* * *

It was Sirius and Marlene that found them hours later as they stumbled into the common room, kissing. James and Lily slept soundly, oblivious to the giggling couple that had just entered the room.

They almost missed them, too wrapped up in each other to notice anything, but Sirius caught sight of the messy crop of black hair, illuminated by the fire that was now dying out.

Sirius and Marlene broke apart and stared at their friends.

"Should we wake them up?" whispered Marlene, as they gaped at Lily and James.

"Nah," Sirius replied, now over his shock, "I've got a better idea."

He reached into the pocket of his trousers and pulled out his wand. Pointing it at the space above Lily and James' heads, he gave a few flourishes.

A sprig of mistletoe began to grow from the ceiling.

Sirius grinned, pleased at his work and Marlene whispered a few incantations with her wand, also pointed at the mistletoe. He raised an inquiring eyebrow at her.

"Trappable mistletoe," she explained, "They can't get up until they kiss."

Sirius smirked and turned to kiss Marlene, who responded enthusiastically. They passed the sofa and went up the stairs to the dormitories hand in hand, still laughing about their best friends.

* * *

When James awoke, it was to a bright stream of sunlight coming through the windows. He was freezing; the fire had gone out through the night and you could feel the December chill, even inside.

James slowly raised his head and groaned quietly – he was stiff from sleeping like this. He moved to stand up and stretch, but upon trying he found that he was blocked by some kind of invisible force that glued him to the sofa. He frowned and looked around him, left, right, down at the still sleeping form of Lily, and up.

He swore loudly as he saw the mistletoe. Lily stirred in her sleep, and then lifted her hands to her eyes, rubbing.

"James?" she asked sleepily.

"Sorry, Lily." said James, slumping back into the sofa, "We're stuck."

"What d'you mean?" she looked up to where he was looking and a light flush came to her face as she recalled her fantasies that included James, herself and mistletoe.

"How...?" Lily reached up and felt the mistletoe. She inspected it and then groaned.

"What?"

"I recognise this," Lily explained, "This is Marlene's charm."

"And Sirius' mistletoe," said James grumpily, but he couldn't help but feel a surge of gratitude for his best mate for putting him into this situation.

A moment of silence between the two of them passed as they averted each other's eyes until Lily spoke.

"Well," she took a deep breath, "Aren't you going to kiss me?"

James turned to gape at her. "But...but..."

"We have to get out of this somehow." Lily spoke logically, and James' heart sank. She didn't really want to kiss him.

"Okay," he said, and before Lily could even register what was happening, he was kissing her.

James' hands moved everywhere, from the curve of her face to her hair to her hips. He couldn't get enough of her, and it was as if he thought that any minute now, she would come to her senses and push him away. Lily, on the other hand, had no such thoughts. She relished in the sensation of his lips on hers – it wasn't going to last long, and Lily had been dreaming about this for months.

All too soon, the kiss ended. Lily and James broke apart, flushed with red, wet lips.

They stared at each other and then started muttering nonsensical things at the same time.

"Well, um..."

"Erm, I..."

"Lily?"

"Yes?" Her hand found his.

"Do you...do you fancy me?" He spoke hesitantly, not cockily.

"Yes." Lily answered honestly.

James face broke into a wide grin and he pecked her on the lips. It was a short and sweet kiss, but enough to send Lily smiling crazily.

They smiled at each other euphorically until James spoke again.

"Lily?"

"Yes?"

"Will you go out with me?"

"Of course I will, you prat."

They kissed once more and it was Lily who broke it, insisting that she had to go and kill Marlene. James agreed and ran off to "murder" Sirius.

Upstairs, however, Marlene was met by a squealing and grateful Lily, whilst Sirius was greeted by a positively ecstatic James.

Marlene and Sirius high five and give each other celebratory kisses later – their job is done. Marlene tells Sirius that it was a shame that they didn't get any pictures of the sleeping couple, but Sirius tells her it doesn't matter: they'll have many more opportunities to do so. And he isn't wrong.


End file.
